Page 66 of Girl Going Nowhere

“My brother,” I cut her off. “He’s my brother, as much as his decisions lately have pissed me off. That trumps him being your fuck buddy.”

She laughs. “I can’t argue with you there. But you have to admit, I’m doing my job. Crossing my t’s, dotting my i’s. Those decisions you hate so much are securing a future for him. And possibly even you if you so desire. He wants to take care of those he cares about.”

He’s made it clear that he only cares about himself and his mother. “Want to get to the point sometime today? I’ve got places to be.”

There’s a pregnant pause. “I know for a fact that your little friend from home has a lawyer who’s digging around. I’m going to make sure that your brother’s name doesn’t get revealed by promising that hers won’t either. Rafael already made me promise I wouldn’t out Blake or her daughter, only the pictures. We could have made a lot more money if we allowed those publications to name Dover’s mystery woman, but your brother took the cut.”

He did what?

He protected Blake.

“Rumors are only the first step to a man’s reputation falling,” Vanessa tells me. “You’re all lucky that it only takes one story leaking for others to follow. People talk after that. Blake isn’t the only woman Dover has cheated on his wife with, but she’s the first who doesn’t want a payout to speak up on it.”

What is she saying? “Does that mean she’s safe from whatever shitshow you started?”

“I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘safe,’” she muses. “She did sleep with a famous athlete, after all. That’s not particularly a smart choice considering the publicity surrounding his career, now, is it? But I’m not going to use her because I told Rafael I wouldn’t. Think what you want of me, but I do like him enough to hear him out once in a while.”

In other words, he had to do something for her for this trade-off.

It’s no different than wanting something from me, which is why she even bothered reaching out. “What is it you want from me?”

“Your signature. That’s it.”

On an NDA, no doubt.

“You’re a pain in my ass,” I tell her.

“It’s mutual,” she responds. “Does that mean you’re going to sign one? I’ll have one emailed to you within the hour.”

I’m not surprised she has my email. If she’s investigated Blake’s history, who’s to say she hasn’t done her research on me, Brodie, and Finn, too? “As long as you never call me again.”

“Deal. Goodbye, Dante.”

She hangs up before I can answer, which is no hair off my ass.

By the time I get down to where Finn is parked in front of the hotel, it’s three minutes past when he said he’d leave.

All I say when I climb in is, “Blake won’t suffer from my brother’s choices. I’ve made sure of it. As for the other thing…”

Finn stays silent as he looks at me.

“None of it is easy for me.”

Him.

Me.

Us.

“It’s not because of you.”

He nods. “I know.”

“I’ll figure it out,” I murmur.

Again, he says, “I know.”

What he doesn’t tell me is that we’ll figure it out together. Because he waited for me instead of leaving like he threatened.

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